One Stone
by Lillith Tagalescu
Summary: Buffy and all of Sunnydale begin to be overcome with emotions and fatigue. Can Buffy save everyone before they are too weak to help themselves? It has been re-edited. Enjoy!


**One Stone**

Sunnydale some ancient time:

Lugar the Mighty slumbered for the last time until he would awaken to rule this realm. After a few thousand years, he was sure the humans would be gone and demons could once again walk free.

Timeline note: This takes place sometime during the 6th season.

Sunnydale: Present Day

Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Tara were at the Espresso Pump getting happily pumped on caffeine. Xander was laughing at something Willow said, and soon they were all laughing so hard they forgot what got them laughing in the first place. An uncharacteristically cool breeze blew through the café area and gave them a chill. Buffy got a worried look on her face. Her taut muscles tensed expecting danger.

"It was just a breeze, Buffy its okay." Willow smiled at her, then turned and beamed at Tara. And just like that, the weird chill went away, and they were back to Sunnydale southern California warmth.

They soon crashed from their caffeine highs and decided to call it a night. 'Just what I needed,' thought Buffy, 'A nice relaxing night with my buds…' Before she could finish her thought, another strangely cool breeze blew in her window. She went over to the window and lowered it a little bit. She stretched some, slipped into her yummy sushi pajamas and got under the comforter. She nestled into bed and tried to wipe out the niggling thought of bad things - and _other_ such things - that went bump (and _bumpy_) in the night. She was out before she had the chance to entertain the notion any longer.

There was stone and heat. The air was close, plus it was stuffy and hard to breathe; no human could survive in this place. What _was_ this place? Buffy tried to see clearly but couldn't see anything for the haze of heat and waves was like when asphalt is hot and distorts everything behind it. Buffy coughed and tried to catch a hint of a cool breeze. Cool breeze? Why did that seem familiar? It appeared to be some sort of cave, maybe but underground. Were caves underground? Buffy couldn't remember. "I must've been out saving the world the day they taught caves." She groaned and tried to find her bearings. Her mouth began to get very dry, and it was hard to swallow. She began to gasp and thought she was going to choke. She couldn't get any air at all. She sat up in her bed and pushed the comforter; "Get off," she told it, as if _it_ was to blame for her nightmare. Although it _had_ gotten rather hot while she'd been in bed. Plus the comforter had been over her head. Was it usually this hot on a California morning?

She stretched and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and hop in the shower. She decided on lukewarm water given her hot awakening. It really _did_ seem to be quite the heat wave brewing. Most people had a lot of misconceptions about California weather, mistakenly thinking it is desert-hot all the time. But that was not the case, California was more like an oasis with a mild climate, it usually didn't get muggy and overwhelmingly hot, and, although it did get chilly, it never got as cold as say winter. Usually everyone had a good choice of parka's or light jackets, but when it came to fashion, Buffy could probably have filled an entire closet with just jackets for those chilly evenings patrolling. She could also have easily filled an entire wardrobe with the jackets and assorted clothing she had ruined while slaying. She groaned again, thinking of many favorite leather jackets purchased in boutiques in L.A. before her parents were divorced. Since she was called to slay vampires and battle the forces of darkness, her fashionista senses had to take a back seat to her other duties. She almost couldn't believe that she had once been a shallow popular girl like Cordelia. Yes, that was it; she had been the Cordelia of her previous school before coming to Sunnydale.

Buffy enjoyed the cool shower, then got a chill and turned the heat of the water up. "Ahhh." She couldn't help but languor a little longer in the shower. The water was so soothing after a restful night. But _had_ it been restful? The dream with the caves and hot air came rushing back to her in a flash. She felt sick for a second and turned the water off, grabbed her towel and dried as quickly as possible. She knew what she had to do. It was action time.

"Willow, meet me in the kitchen, we need to talk," Buffy sent her thoughts to Willow, who was in the next room. Ever since Buffy, Giles, Willow and Xander cast the spell that had joined them so Buffy could have their combined strength to fight Adam, a demon/android hybrid, they shared a special psychic link. A metaphysical side-effect, you could call it.

"Something's coming. At first I just brushed it off as myself being paranoid because we were having such a nice spring. But then after last night's dream I am sure. My subconscious is strange but there is no conflict that I could work out that could explain the stuff that I was getting last night." Willow grinned a big grin at her. "What?"

"It's just so nice to hear you incorporate some of your college education into your fight against evil." Willow was radiant. She had a smile that was contagious. The petite redhead had grown from a shy nerd who never had a date to a pretty powerful witch with a beautiful girlfriend.

Buffy smiled back at her. "I guess there was a point to all of it after all." Buffy had had a difficult time adjusting to college at first, but just as she had begun to get into the swing of things, _things_ started to swing back; she had had to drop all of her classes for a semester, which turned into more. Willow's smile quickly faded and she nodded understandingly. When Buffy's mom died, she'd had to take care of Dawn on her own, so that was pretty much _it_ for higher learning.

Buffy told everyone what was on her mind.

'So should we bother him?' Xander thought to himself. Xander had come back with them after the Espresso Pump and fell asleep on the sofa in the living room. He always felt nervous about calling Giles in England. Giles was so grown up. 'I'm a grown-up too, it shouldn't bother me. But he's like _Dad_ grown-up and I'm like Xander grown-up. There _is_ a difference, oh yes!'

"Xand, are you listening?!" Buffy waved her hand in front of his face. Xander snapped out of his internal reverie, which in a moment he would have probably began rambling out loud anyway.

Willow quickly calculated the time in London. She dialed and put Giles on speaker phone. "We're all here Giles." Willow shouted into the speaker.

"I can hear you quite well Willow, no need to shout. I do so hate these speaker phone devices, at any rate, what's happening? Is everything alright?"

They began to explain things. There was a long pause. "He's probably polishing his glasses," Buffy, Willow and Xander thought in unison.

"Do remember that I can hear your thoughts as well."

They all looked down shocked and wide-eyed and Buffy said, "I didn't think our psychic reach could go that far." Then she looked amazed.

"It's the phone line." Giles replied calmly.

"But phones aren't metaphysical, are they?" Buffy started to eye the cordless phone suspiciously as if it might bite her and her friends suddenly. She would hate to have to slay the phone. Good cordless phones with speakerphone features were expensive.

Giles chuckled softly and you could hear the smile in his voice. "No nothing of the sort, Jenny explained it to me once, technology can transmit magic as well, computers, telephones, faxes and such."

Buffy thought (to herself this time), 'Is it just me, or does he sound _more_ English when he's in England?' He told them that he would look into the images that she had described and get back to her straightaway (definitely more English), said goodbye, and hung up.

ΨΨΨΨ

Lugar began to awaken from strange dreams of mankind still walking the Earth and a single small waif of girl with golden hair involved in great battles. Some sort of warrior perhaps? A champion? Surely this was not possible. That mankind should still be walking the Earth and demons all but extinct were baneful enough. But to see mankind surviving and thriving! They had built great dwellings, cities, and industries. But the dawn of mankind was soon to be dusk. Lugar was filled with hot bitter rage that the vermin that walked the Earth continued to prosper. Lugar swept his form upward through the Earth, taking the heat of its core with him. The masculine and feminine balance was responsible for mankind dominating this realm. He would put an end to that. He gathered his mental powers, and as he began to rise through the Earth, his strength grew as did the temperature in Sunnydale. He was draining the residents of the essence of their innate masculinity. Without balance, both yin and yang, there would be chaos. With that, Lugar smiled.

ΨΨΨΨ

"Sunnydale residents may be unusually lethargic today as temperatures continue to rise… expected to be in the mid-eighties by noon…" The news droned on in the background. Buffy switched it off. Tara was making pancakes. Tara was a pretty good cook. Her pancakes were great. You had to like a girl who could make a good pancake. It wasn't even weird when Tara and Willow moved into the master bedroom that was originally her mother's. It felt right somehow. Willow was more like family than any friends she'd ever had back in LA. The thought of her mom's room being occupied with love made her feel good for a moment. Then a jolt of despair and guilt, as if she'd just betrayed her mother's memory somehow with her thoughts. Grief was funny. You could feel fine one minute and the next minute the smell of toast could make you burst into tears. Her eyes began to tear up.

"Buffy, are you OK?" Tara looked up from her pancake batter. Buffy just smiled and nodded as she pressed her lips together hard. She was afraid if she spoke she would start to sob. Tara just looked at her compassionately. Tara was very astute and empathic. She was good at knowing when to stay quiet. She understood sometimes you just had to hold back the tears.

Xander came into the room and almost tripped over, well his own feet. He looked hurt. More than hurt, close to tears.

"Xander what's happened?! Are you alright?" Buffy said looking concerned.

"It's nothing. I don't know why I got so freaked out over tripping. I was afraid I was going to fall down. I remember when I was a kid falling was so scary." Xander looked embarrassed, then sullen.

'He's moody today,' thought Buffy. "OK Giles is supposed to call back this afternoon sometime when he gets more info about my weird vision or dream or whatever." Buffy looked all serious.

"Xander I need you in this." Buffy looked him in the eye as she said it. Xander assured her that everything was fine, then left the room without saying anything else.

Buffy yelled upstairs, "Dawn, breakfast!" Dawn came trundling down the stairs. "Hey I thought I got rid of those jeans." Buffy said as she noticed what Dawn was wearing.

Dawn was defensive. "I'm wearing a top that covers everything"

"You're not wearing that to the mall with your friends. You are not wearing those jeans ever again. Take them off!"

Dawn smirked, "So I shouldn't wear any pants at all?!"

Buffy leaned in toward her, "Do I have to remind you that I have superhuman strength?"

Dawn looked indignant, "I'm not afraid of you, you know." But then she turned back toward the staircase. "OK I'm going, geez."

'Great, I've got the angry mom-stare down. I can check that off the "skills to acquire" list,' Buffy thought dejectedly.

Buffy turned the AC on; they actually didn't need if often in California. It was usually warm, but breezes blew frequently; plus their house had many windows, sometimes with no glass in them. It's a good thing there weren't a lot of burglaries in town. That's one advantage to living on a Hellmouth; it keeps the mundane crime down. Tara finished the pancakes just as Dawn re-emerged from her room with less tight (not by much) jeans on.

"Boys who are only looking at your tight jeans aren't boys you want to be with Dawn." Dawn just rolled her eyes and went to get her breakfast. One advantage the monks gave Dawn was giving her the Summers' metabolism. She was slim and active and all she needed was a little exercise to stay that way. Buffy noticed how her sister had begun to look like a woman and felt instant motherly protectiveness. She wished she could dress her in a potato sack. Dawn smiled at the fluffy pancakes and poured lots of syrup on them. "Want some pancakes with your syrup?" Buffy ribbed.

"Pancakes, pancakes you're so sweet, you're soft and squishy and good to eat!" Dawn rolled one up like a burrito with syrup dripping out of it and took a big bite, transferring the syrup to her chin and much of her face.

It was Buffy's turn to roll her eyes and walk away. She noticed Tara was standing completely still. "Tara? Hey Tara. What's going on? Do you see something out the window?" Tara turned to Buffy with eyes that were all white as if her irises had completely disappeared. Buffy was stunned. "Dawn go eat in the living room."

"Why? I thought you didn't want messy stuff in the living room? What's wrong with Tara?" Dawn insisted.

"It's fine, just go, please." Buffy pushed, trying to avoid the sticky syrup all over Dawn. She remembered when they were little; Dawn had always somehow gotten covered when she had anything sweet-only it hadn't happened… not really. She didn't have time to ruminate. She went back around the island and tapped Tara on the arm gently; she didn't know what was going on or what was wrong with her.

Tara shook her head and blinked then her eyes were back to normal. "Something bad is coming Buffy." Tara said without a hint of a stutter.

"I know." It was all Buffy could say. She didn't ask her what had just happened, or what she had seen, not yet. She knew Tara would share when and if she knew something useful. She liked that about Tara, no rambling explanations; she gave you all you needed to know. She was succinct. Buffy had that slightly queasy sense of dread she got when she knew there was evil coming but didn't know enough to do anything. She hated this stage; she wanted – no, _needed _- something to fight.

Buffy knew more caffeine was probably the last thing she needed in her already agitated state, but she just had to have something to do with her hands. She settled on a half-cafe fat-free latte. 'God this is a long day, waiting is the worst. I need to do something before I go crazy.' She took her cup to go and headed to the cemetery. Spike's crypt. She stalked toward it purposefully. 'I'm going there for information, that's all, no hanky panky.' She kicked the door open as was her wont.

Spike sat up atop a long empty tomb. "Slayer. Come back for a little bit more of the big bad?"

"Eww, Spike, don't you think of anything else?" Buffy said, trying to sound more annoyed than she actually felt.

"Well, yeah, as a matter of fact I do." He counted off on his fingers, "Blood, beer, and birds." Spike added, "Also money to buy blood and beer. But mostly those first 3 things."

"You're a classy guy, Spike." Buffy said dryly.

"You don't need class, slayer you need crass." Spike moved faster than any human and made his face change, grabbed Buffy around her waist, and swung her around on the floor in front of him. Her body responded so well to Spike, and his was responding to hers as well, she could tell. Why did she let him do this? She didn't have time for this. The doom clock was ticking and the alarm was about to go off. She pushed him away and said, firmly this time, "There's trouble coming, I can feel it."

"Yeah, well if you wanted to avoid trouble, you should have stayed home." He gave her his sauciest look.

"Spike, this is serious! I don't know what is happening, but I'm really worried. Last night I had this terrible dream." She went on to tell him about the horrid images of darkness, ancient evil from deep within the Earth, heat, and suffocation.

Spike began to look serious too then. It was strangely cool in the crypt, cooler than she'd expected. Somehow the room-temperature coolness of Spike's undead body was oddly comforting. So strange that someone who had once been her sworn enemy had become a confidant and lover. She hated that her life had come to this. She hated that she had already died and been brought back to this Hellmouth. Emphasis on the Hell part. She had been to paradise, but the longer she'd been out of that place, the more the memories of it faded. It was like it was enchanted somehow. She couldn't really recall any images, just the feeling of warmth, being safe, being loved. Sometimes she just wanted to feel that again. But even that memory of feeling would fade with time, she knew. Somehow she just knew. It was a very melancholy day all around.

"Slayer, you still with us?" Spike looked genuinely concerned, gently taking her shoulders. She nodded. Spike got up and took out a cigarette and his Zippo lighter. He didn't need his lungs, so smoking couldn't hurt him anyway. He smoked more for something to do, since the nicotine barely even affected him. Vampire constitution and all. It made him look busy and added to his whole Big Bad image. The soul that inhabited his body before had been a very gentle and sensitive man, and the vampire who now resided there had absorbed all of the memories - and obviously much of the personality- of the previous resident.

"We're gonna get through this. You can count on me, Buffy." He added _Buffy_ at the end almost ashamedly, as if he suddenly realized the intimacy of her first name. He sometimes wished she would call him William more, his name before he adopted the Cockney street thug image and moniker to match.

"OK." Buffy somehow believed him; she believed that _he_ believed it at any rate. That was something wasn't it? She needed all the help she could get. She went back outside into sweltering heat. "Oh my god! It's terrible outside. Stay in there Spike, the heat may melt your undead flesh."

"Wasn't plannin' on going all barbecue today anyway, sun's still blazin' "

"Well, I mean later."

"This is California, nights are cool."

"Yeah, I hope so." Buffy left quietly this time, closing the door gently. She walked home, but stopped to get some water. She was so thirsty. Somehow moments like that with Spike, truly intimate ones, were more frightening than the passionate nights they shared.

Spike couldn't hold himself together any longer; the macho act was too much. He started to sob. The evil in him wanted out to wreak havoc and destroy, to kill and feed. But the imprint of the former soul was so strong, not to mention its brain chemistry fluctuations. But this body was dead and simply animated, what was the point of vampires anyway? Just to destroy and eat until there was no food left? Then what would they all do, feed off each other until their undead bodies had absorbed all of the blood, and they were nothing but dry husks? It frightened him and made him afraid; he knew if he were to die he'd go to Hell. Some horrible Hell dimension that he couldn't conceive of. Vampires were evil but not stupid; no one wanted to be banished to a Hell dimension to suffer for all eternity. He was evil, a monster, she could never love him, she looked at him like a thing. A thing to please her. She was so beautiful, and the things she could do to him … good things, bad things. He especially liked the bad things.

What was wrong with him, why the rush of emotions? All of a sudden he couldn't wait for the sun to go down. He wished vampires had magic powers to make changes around them. "Drac, that's the bloke I need to talk to. I should find out how he got all that mojo," he said out loud. "I'm talking to myself." Spike then began laughing; he laughed so hard he thought he almost produced breath. "Great now, I'm gonna get put away in a nice, soft, east-facing room with lots of early morning sunlight." Spike began to cry again.

"How was your trip to the mall?" Buffy asked when Dawn came in the house. "Why do your friends never want to come in? Or their moms?" Buffy frowned.

"Maybe 'cause we're all a bunch of freaks and weird stuff is always happening in our house." Dawn looked upset and agitated. Well, more upset than even her usual teen hormones would dictate.

"Did something happen with your friend?" Buffy reached out for Dawns hair; she had such beautiful straight hair, not like Buffy and her moms fly-away hair. Dawn recoiled from her touch and Buffy felt rejected. Dawn stormed off upstairs.

Buffy suddenly put something together. Some sort of realization was forming. Everyone was acting strangely. Xander earlier. Tara's strange experience in the kitchen that morning. It was all coming together, but into what?

Willow came rushing into the living room. "Guys, I think I found something. Look." She motioned for them to follow her back into the dining room, which had become less for dining and more for plans to thwart evil. Willow's laptop was set up there along with her DSL connection to the internet where she did much of her research since Giles had returned to his bachelor life in England. Giles was always criticizing their reliance on computers and electronics to do research, but it had proved effective on many occasions. It had also proved to be faster. Many other people obviously had the same idea, or the information wouldn't be available in the first place.

"I found this page after about a thousand combinations of key words." Willow said triumphantly.

"You're a trooper Will." Buffy said happily.

"So there's this one article about some ancient evil demon called a Sto'An. It was made from the layers of the Earth, right around the time humankind was first on Earth. It said that the Sto'An would lay dormant until the scourge that is humankind had died and were no longer a plague upon the Earth. It was waiting because it thought we would be extinct by now, but I think maybe it's woken up." Willow looked apprehensive.

"What do we do when he arrives? What does he look like, what's his weakness?" Buffy asked impatiently.

"Well the text doesn't say much about that, because it was probably assumed that the Sto'An would lay dormant for as long as we were around and nobody would have to fight it." Willow said. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see if Giles can come up with something more."

'Now why can't they all feel that way? Just hibernate until humans are gone? It would make my job a lot easier.' Buffy sighed and began to walk away. Willow wasn't upset. She knew that Buffy's frustration wasn't aimed at her; she was a warrior who needed action to feel useful and hated feeling powerless, unable to control what was happening.

A loud boom sounded abruptly, and all the windows on one side of the house blew out - or in, Buffy wasn't sure because she swung around to push Willow to the ground and dove for cover, taking Willow with her. Slayer reflexes probably kept them from being blinded by the glass and the force of the explosion. "Will, are you okay?" Willow mumbled something, but it sounded very muffled. "Sorry." Buffy was squeezing all the wind out of Willow, who was underneath her. She got up, brushing debris and dust from her pants. She'd just had them dry cleaned. She helped Willow to her feet and proceeded to go look to see what had happened. She coughed and covered her mouth and nose as best she could. When she got to the living room she saw a big man-shaped thing standing on her front lawn.

Ψ ΨΨΨ

Lugar stood before the dwelling of the small golden-haired warrior. "Do you fight for mankind? Are you a warrior?" His voice was a deep rumble like thunder and an avalanche of stones. There was a heat that radiated from him like smoke from a barbecue pit, both hot and choking. "If you are indeed a warrior, then you must come and fight me for the redemption of the plague of humans."

Buffy stood breathless and angry. After all, windows weren't free. She went to the front door and opened it. "You could have just knocked if you wanted to talk to me, or hey even pick up this new invention, the telephone, look into it." She pantomimed knocking and then mimed talking on the phone.

"Your words mean nothing to me golden-haired warrior girl." The big demon said.

"Well I can guarantee you the feeling is mutual." Buffy quipped. The demon rumbled deep in his throat and Buffy could almost feel the air vibrating. It was more than a hum, it was like the rumble and quake of fear itself come to eat you. It was the rumble of apprehension. It was the rumble of fear that if you go into the dark basement there will be things waiting there, things that pinch. It was the prickle at the nape of your neck telling you someone could see _you_, but you couldn't see _them_. Buffy shook off the weird irrational fears that came into her mind. It was like paralyzing irrational childlike fear, then queasiness and lightheadedness.

'He's doing something to us with that rumbling.' That rumbling is bad things whispering. "Stop! You're not doing this." She closed her ears and went into a flying kick with heel out toward the solar plexus of the demon, if he even had a solar plexus. It was like thunder struck her foot and reverberated up her leg into her abdomen and out through her head. It was the most jarring sensation she had ever felt. She just wanted to clutch her sides and the rest of her entire body. She rolled over to try to get a sense of her surroundings and the location of that big demon.

He smiled and simply walked away. His steps were tiny vibrations throughout her body and brain. It was very uncomfortable to be in his presence. _His_ presence? How did she know he was a man? Or male or whatever? There were no genitalia, just a figure and a deep voice, who knows, that demon could be considered a beautiful woman where it was from. That would have made Buffy laugh, if she'd been able to keep her body from vibrating in its wake. She was finally able to get to her feet and limp back into the house.

Just as she was getting in, the phone rang. She went to the living room to answer and it was Giles. "Buffy, I think I have some information for you. There is a demon that lay dormant for thousands of years waiting for mankind to die out."

"Yes, Giles we got that part already. Do you have any idea how I fight it? I just got a grand introduction to the man himself." Buffy said.

"Ah, yes, that's just it, the demon, the Sto'An it has no gender; it steals the essence of masculinity from all of the people in the town." Giles stated. "Are you all right?" Giles added apologetically, her well-being an afterthought in his excitement to share information with her.

"'Essence of masculinity?'" Buffy asked. "What is that and how do we get it back? I'm fine, just shaken up, thank you." Buffy added sincerely. She felt a surge of love for Giles that she rarely expressed; she wished she expressed it more. What if she never saw him again? 'Stop it!'

"Its not that clear, since it was assumed the demon would be dormant until we were gone, and we wouldn't have to worry about it." Giles said dejectedly.

"So how do I kill it, this Stone demon?" Buffy asked.

"You don't." Giles said, at which point he became silent. He let the mispronunciation slide this time. Time was of the essence. There was no time to quibble about Buffy's extreme language confusions. There was a shuffling of pages and papers on the other end.

Buffy smiled at that. She could picture him looking through his books. She missed Giles being there and had on many occasions taken him and his availability for granted. It was hard to think of him as a man and not as a librarian/watcher and mentor. She got a reminder of his manhood in her first year of college, when she surprised him only to find him at home with company - a girlfriend from England had come for a visit. Buffy had felt so uncomfortable. It was like thinking of your dad being, dare she think, intimate with someone. Eww, it was just too weird for words and she would just banish those thoughts. Right now!

"What do you mean, I don't?" Buffy asked confrontationally.

"Well he can only be made to be dormant again, not actually killed per se." Giles answered, sounding somewhat relieved.

'He must be reading as he's going' Buffy thought, bemusedly.

"He has an impenetrable outer shell which is harder than regular stone and can only be pierced by stone that has been purified and has never been touched by sun's light." Giles was obviously reading this. He was stuffy at times, but not that stuffy.

"Could that be why people seem to be acting weird?" Buffy asked randomly.

"Weird? How?"

"Like overly emotional or not responding normally to stuff."

"Stuff? I do so enjoy your vague assessments Buffy; however, if you have already encountered this creature then time is of the essence." Giles replied impatiently.

"You talk about _my_ vagueness, what's a purified stone? What, do I have to have it blessed by a priest or shaman or something?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"That's just it Buffy. I don't know." Giles' voice became soft at that last. He hated to disappoint Buffy. He liked when she was impressed by him and looked to him for guidance. He cared for her like a daughter, which had caused him much trouble in times past with the Watcher's Council. The slayers were each assigned a watcher to guide and teach them in a firm and somewhat detached manner. But Buffy had a way of winning people over, whether they wanted to be won or not. Giles had never been able to be detached like the other Watchers. He had had his rebel youth and hadn't been all good and proper the way he was now. He'd had a nickname in those days, 'Ripper'. No one really knew why he had been called that. And knowing what the Scooby gang knew about the occult they just preferred not to ask. So they didn't talk about it, they all preferred to think of Giles as a proper English gentleman.

"There really aren't any more references on how to destroy this ah, Sto'An demon. But we will cross-reference and search for the meaning of 'purified stone'. I know it's frustrating. But do be patient and careful, Buffy."

"Okay, I'll try not to die again." Buffy smiled and hung up the phone. Then Buffy began to cry, and she felt so tired she needed to rest. It had been a busy day. She went to the sofa and sat down, placing her head down on her lap. 'Whoa! What is wrong with me? I have things to do, demons to fight, grocery shopping to do.' It was moments like this she wished she could drive. But unfortunately Buffy and cars were two very non-mixey things. But luckily with Buffy's slayer strength and her great stamina, she didn't usually mind too much. She liked being active. But she felt tired today. She thought she'd stay on the sofa for a little while longer. She turned on the TV. The next thing she knew, Xander was shaking her awake.

"Buff, wake up! Look at the news."

"Many Sunnydale residents have gone to their doctors today complaining of fatigue and vague pain. Officials have contacted the CDC just as a precaution. They want to assure the public there is no need to panic or assume the worst at this time. We will inform you as our news desk receives updates."

"It's doing something to us Xander, it's affecting everyone. Giles said something about this demon stealing our essence." Buffy said groggily.

"What like our soul, our spirit, our brain? Oh my God, I don't know what that means!" Xander looked worried.

"I don't think so, but something else, something that makes us unable to function properly. Our masculine essence." Buffy seemed to perk up quickly. Her slayer stamina helped her resist what was happening to everyone else, mostly. Sometimes it was good to be the slayer. "Giles also said that the only thing that could defeat it was a 'purified stone'. We need Willow to research and find out what that means. Giles is on it, but who knows how long that may take."

Xander gulped and his eyes goggled at the debris all around them and the broken glass. Some of it was on the back of the sofa, but Buffy had managed to avoid it while sitting on the sofa. "What happened here? Did someone attack you? Did that demon come to take our essence? Oh God, Buffy I'm afraid! I'm also tired, I need to lie down, scoot over." Before Buffy could stop him, he went to sit on a part of the sofa that was covered in broken glass. "Sh…!!"

"Ships coming in and leaving at their scheduled times as far as I can see," said the man at the dock, checking some sort of clipboard. Spike looked at him long and hard, sizing him up. The info on that clipboard could have nothing to do with the ship docking and departure schedules. He wanted to be sure he could take Buffy out of here if things got bad. He wasn't going to lose her again, no way. Of course then there was the matter of how in the world he could actually get her to do anything against her will, much less go somewhere she didn't want to go. She could and had overpowered him many times. He had more than a few well-healed scars to prove it. "These aren't the kind of ships you want to be taking your lady-friend on ya know." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, well mate sometimes you gotta make compromises." Spike said as he flicked a cigarette off the dock. He left the dock and mentally prepared to dig into an emergency cash stash he had hidden away in case he had to blow out of town suddenly.

"Oh Xander! You gotta watch where you sit." Buffy cringed at the pain he must be in and helped him upstairs to the bathroom. She realized that she hadn't really seen Dawn since she'd come back from the mall and stormed off angry in a teen snit. She had so many things to think about that she completely forgot. Dawn hadn't come out of her room even when the commotion happened. Commotion was a big understatement. Dawn had been the only other person at home when it happened as far as she knew. Willow had left soon after the attack to go meet Tara at the UC Sunnydale campus for some seminar or something. 'Good ol' Willow going to school on a Saturday.' Buffy had to smile to herself at that thought. Xander had been at work that day for a special work project; Anya had been at the magic shop. So there was just her and Dawn. She brushed bits of glass off Xander and went upstairs to see if Dawn was there.

"So she didn't even yell down to see if you were all right?" Xander asked, getting panicky again and following Buffy up the stairs.

"It's OK Xander, don't worry, I've got everything under control." Buffy hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. Xander just nodded and continued to follow her up the stairs.

Buffy went to Dawn's door and knocked gently at first, then a little harder. She was apprehensive. She opened the door and found Dawn just lying there in bed under the covers sleeping. It wasn't that cold, but she was asleep with the covers piled on top of her. Could she have slept through the explosion and the encounter with the weird Rumbly Stony demon? She went over to Dawn and touched her shoulder. "Dawn. Dawn please wake up. Oh my God, Dawn!"

Dawn drowsily turned over and looked up at Buffy, "I'm sorry. I was just so tired from going to the Mall. Is everything OK?"

Buffy grabbed her and hugged her, "Oh Dawn, you scared me. You slept through everything." Buffy said voice muffled from a combination of tears and Dawn's shoulder.

"Its fine Buffy I was just taking a nap."

"No Dawn it's something else. Something bad." Buffy wrinkled her brows.

"What's wrong are there suddenly nap demons. Demons that make us sleepy?"

Buffy didn't feel like responding, and she was tired of waiting around for action. "Stay with her. Keep her awake. I don't like this," She told Xander as she left the room. She decided to call Giles back and bug him about this sitch some more. Just as she was going downstairs, the phone rang and Willow and Tara came bounding in the front door looking frazzled and hot. She could see the thought, 'What a heat wave!' written all over their faces even without psychic communiqués. Buffy looked at them hopefully as she answered the phone. "Hello?" Buffy said into the receiver.

"Buffy, good you're home; I tried before but got no answer." Giles said.

That was strange, Buffy must've slept through the phone ringing. She hadn't done that since…well since ever. "Hey Giles, what's up?"

"Well, there's good news and bad news." Giles said matter-of-factly.

"OK don't keep me in suspense Giles, I'm tired of waiting for this thing to come back and rumble thunder at me," said Buffy impatiently.

"Well the good news is that I found out what purified stone means. The bad news is that it may be a bit difficult to acquire," Giles said hesitantly.

"OK, what kind of stone are we talking about here Giles, diamonds?" Buffy said kiddingly.

"Well as a matter of fact…" Giles let the sentence trail off.

"You've gotta be kidding me. Giles, where am I supposed to find diamonds? I have a hard enough time getting groceries; if it weren't for your generosity I don't know where I'd be, plus Spike helps out too sometimes, but anyway. Where do you suggest I get diamonds, Giles? Shall I somehow transport myself to Africa and mine them myself?!" Buffy let out a frustrated sigh.

"No Buffy we'll figure something out. I'm sorry that I'm not there to help you through this."

"Yeah, me too." Buffy said. She was so overwhelmed with the grief of losing her mom, the fear of losing Dawn and not being able to protect her and take care of her as a legal guardian.

"I'll ask a coven I am acquainted with to work on a solution for us." Giles said. "I promise to ring you back just as soon as I have some more useful information."

Buffy said her goodbyes and hung up the phone. "What's up guys?" She said turning to Tara and Willow.

"Well we may be able to help you with a conjuring spell to augment a regular stone into what you need to defeat the demon."

"How did you guys know about the stone thing?" Buffy asked.

"We were doing our own research; we couldn't go to that group and leave you to fend for yourself. Scoobies forever." Buffy was overwhelmed and hugged Willow. Willow hugged her back. Tara looked at them and smiled, she'd never had a friend like Buffy before, she'd mostly been a loner, coming from a very overprotective family, and she never really had much of an opportunity to make friends. They all sat down at the dining room table and Willow had a rendering of what the spell would do on her laptop.

"Wow, fancy stuff Will. How long will it take to work?"

"Well it may take a little while; I have to call forth the elements of Earth in a concentration of high density and heat and that may take a little time. Say about an hour from when the spell is started, maybe a little more."

"Good, I'm taking the fight to him, it, whatever. I'm not waiting around for it to come back and break more of my windows." Buffy got up and went to the kitchen to get some water. The AC was on full blast and the heat hadn't subsided even though it was close to sundown. Spike would be out and about soon. Buffy felt excited about it and then mentally scolded herself for the indulgence. She was primed and ready for a fight, and she just might get Spike to join her on this one. If only she could keep the demon occupied enough for the spell to work, she'd be golden.

They ordered pizza because Tara wasn't feeling up to cooking dinner for all 5 of them. Anya was still doing inventory at the Magick shop. That was her favorite part of being co-owner, counting her money and looking at all the goods that would eventually be exchanged for money. When the pizza delivery man came, he got inappropriately upset over the tip and stood there on the porch for a while before he would go away. They just ignored him.

"Will, can you do a locator spell to find this thing?"

"I need something that was attached to it. You said that you kicked it in the chest, right?" Willow asked

"Well, that's what I _intended_ to do, but it was more like I took a flying leap at a brick wall."

"Then you'll have to be the locating anchor." Willow answered

"Is it gonna hurt?" asked Buffy with mock fear

"No" Willow laughed. "Just sit down, no, at the table."

Buffy sat down and Willow said a spell over her:

"Stone of life

Stone that's lost

Stone of fire

Stone that's tossed

Goddess I beseech

You to define

We seek the spirit

We cannot see

Bring its location

Here to me"

There was a popping sound and a smell of ozone and there was a shimmer in the air; before them was a figure of the stone demon.

Willow stood and made her hand into a claw and her head snapped back; when it came back up her eyes were all black. "Mal Atech!" she said. She slumped back into her chair. The shimmer went away. "Definitely not ready for that level of confrontation, sorry Buffy. I should have worded that differently."

"It's OK Will; get all the stuff you'll need for the spell. I know where the demon is. Your spell worked, just not like you expected. It's like it reversed his ability to find me and traced it back to him like a phone call."

Willow and Tara immediately scurried to get the spell stuff gathered. They got it all set up and cleared the mundane things off the table. The best part about doing spells in the Summers' house was that the table was solid wood, which just happened to be very conducive to spell work. Magick was very dangerous stuff, and Willow had learned in recent months just how powerful it could be. "OK Buffy we're ready."

Buffy'd had only one slice of pizza, she wanted to stay light for the fight. Buffy felt clever. 'I'm like Willow with the rhyming.' She put on different clothes, cool loose clothes that she could really move in. She decided to go get Spike. But it just so happened he was on her front step. "Cutting it close to sunset, Spike? You won't be much good to me all crispy, besides when you get sunburned it smells _really_ bad." Buffy wrinkled her nose.

"Never mind that, we're ready to get to the fighting then, love?" Buffy shot him daggers with her eyes for the use of the term of endearment often used by the Cockney vampire. She didn't mind so much when they were alone, but not in front of her friends. He mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' to her.

"OK let's go. Dark, dank, hot caves here we come! Why can't the demons ever be hiding out at Nordstrom's or Macy's? Preferably at the perfume counter." Buffy mused with regret. Spike followed Buffy and watched her behind in the workout pants she'd chosen for the evening's festivities. If she only knew what she did to him.

Lugar rested and enjoyed the thrill of absorbing all of the testosterone from the citizens of Sunnydale. That's the essence he fed on, that's what would allow him to destroy the human vermin. He would take away their strength - not that female essence wasn't powerful as well, there were demons that fed on that, too. It just so happened this was how Lugar created chaos. He loved destroying the balance humans depended on. Many times throughout history they destroyed their own balance; misogyny and misandry worked its own slow seeping evil within humanity. Lugar smiled and rested; little did he know that Buffy plus one were about to start a party in his lair that evening.

Buffy was impatient because she felt the day had been spent simply waiting for solutions, waiting for answers, and waiting for battle. "Come on Spike, keep up."

Spike smirked but caught up to walk side by side with Buffy. He took out a cigarette and lit it. Buffy shot him a look, and he immediately dropped it. "Sorry, I smoke when I'm nervous."

She picked up the pace and he kept up easily, since he didn't get out of breath it was no problem for him. Spike's vampire strength had been a real advantage to the Scoobies ever since the government put a chip in Spike's brain to keep him from biting people. The chip made him experience an excruciating pain in his head if he tried to harm any human. He wondered how many other vampires and demons had had behavior modification chips installed in their noggin to keep bad doggies on a leash, as Dru might say. Drusilla was his previous love and sire, the vampire who turned him, made him what he was, to exist for all eternity as an immortal that would shun the daylight. Drusilla was insane and said a lot of crazy things, but sometimes she was right about things too.

They saw a cave ahead with a funny deep orange-red glow, and you could feel a vibration of heat and a whispering of bad things. She knew the vibrations were playing tricks with their heads and draining them of reason and balance and everything that kept humanity strong. Everyone needs testosterone, even women. Testosterone depletion can cause menopausal symptoms in women and decreased libido for both men and women, but, more importantly, it destroys the balance of male and female. It would make humanity weak and unable to be rational. They were on a hormonal emotional roller coaster. They felt fatigued, achy, and had overwhelming emotional outbursts at the worst of times. Hormone imbalances can be very subtle, not showing many symptoms at all in one person, while totally devastating another. That's why she didn't want the rest of the Scoobies along for this ride. They were too susceptible to the demon's draining power; she wouldn't have that guilt on her head of losing one of them. Her slayer strength didn't make her invulnerable, but it definitely gave her an edge the others didn't have. Spike's vampire resistance gave him an advantage as well.

As they got closer to the cave, they began to feel weak. The Sto'An demon awoke as they drew near. It rumbled deep in its throat, like a soulful moan to something dark that made you feel oily and dirty. They had to keep clear heads, they needed to ignore its evil seeping into every pore, distracting, making them feel dirty and outcast. They both made fists at their sides and soldiered on into the cave to face the demon. The Sto'An came out of a tunnel and stood about 7 or 7 ½ feet tall. Buffy wondered if it had been that big when it came to her house earlier. It seemed smaller when it was standing on her front lawn in broad daylight, outside her home, where she slept. She couldn't think about that, the depletion of testosterone coupled with the black oily evil emanating from the Sto'An was sickening. Physically and metaphorically. And metaphysically.

"Ah you have come to rebound from my form once again, small warrior?" The Sto'An sounded so triumphant.

"Looks like I have, Rocks-for-Brains." Buffy made a gesture to the demon to bring it, but it had slumbered for so long it didn't understand any of her colloquialisms. She made like she was waiting for him to lunge, but then feinted and ducked backward in an arc, while Spike flanked him on the right. Spike prepared to give him a hard right hook, Buffy tried to warn him, "Spike he's solid rock don't…"

"Aaaaahhhh!" Spike screamed in pain and clutched his right hand to his chest. Then Buffy ducked down to the left and tried to sweep the demons feet out from under it. That almost worked.

"You play children's games with me Slayer. I have done more dreaming, and I know who you are."

"You have no idea who I am Rock Face!" And she rolled into a summersault, grabbed a random rock from the ground with a sharp point and pushed off with her legs and stabbed the rock monster in the neck with it. She made contact, and there was a spark of light and a glow as if light went through him.

"Thank you" he rumbled, then stood straighter and threw her almost all the way across the cave. She landed with a thud, and he took one foot and pounded the ground. Where his foot made contact with the ground, a deep red glowing crack formed in the ground beneath him. The stone only made him stronger.

Buffy looked up from the ground and groaned to her feet. She thought the spell had worked, but apparently not yet; how would she know when it had worked? The chasm grew wider and wider in the Earth beneath them like no earthquake ever had because this wasn't just seismic activity, this was Hellmouth activity. Every vibration and every rumble made Buffy and Spike queasy and made them feel like they wanted to run. The desire to flee and not to fight wasn't characteristic of either of their personalities. They fought these emotions with all of their will. It made Buffy angry to think of someone having power and influence over her like that. The anger seemed to fuel her strength and dispel the sickness from the evil thing coming toward her.

Spike and Buffy's advantage was speed, the thing was rather slow, what with being made entirely of rock and whatever was deep within the earth. She was standing tensed on the balls of her feet. She nodded to Spike, who was standing a little behind her and to her left, and leaped into a double flip over the demons head. The demon looked up. Was that surprise on its face? It then seemed to look angry. It could just be more evil mind games or humankind's tendency to anthropomorphize things that are not at all human. Either way Buffy shook it off and held on to the anger for strength, and she had a feeling Spike was doing the same thing. She took a long cord used for spelunking out of her small pack on her back and threw one end to Spike. She needed to be clever and bide time until Willow's spell kicked in, and how _would_ she know? Spike and Buffy managed to knock the demon on its face.

Then Buffy saw a shimmer over everything. The walls were sparkling, like diamonds! Buffy saw a loose piece that had fallen during all of the vibrations and quakes. She grabbed a nice sharp diamond shard and leaped on the demon's back before he had a chance to get back up. She stabbed with all of her strength using both hands. The demon let out a bellow of rage, despair, and disappointment that shook her very bones. He seemed to vibrate very fast, almost to the point of being hot to the touch. She had to get off because it was uncomfortable and disturbing. He shook violently as Buffy and Spike watched out of breath – well, Buffy was out of breath. The demon then crumbled into a million various small pebbles, and all of the stones that had made him up fell into the chasm he had opened. The chasm then closed again with a small rumble. And the best part of this battle being over was that the night was finally cool again.

© Layla Tichtchenko 2009


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